Nikol Pashinyan is badly in need of a strong opposition in parliament to resist the inevitably looming international pressures over Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh), a former minister of defense says in a post on Facebook.

Vigen Sargsyan, who joined the former ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) shortly after assuming the ministerial post in September 2016, calls for using the parliamentary diplomacy's full potential as a “powerful foreign policy tool”.

“Parliamentary diplomacy is also a powerful foreign policy tool, whereas security- and and defense-related issues require efforts towards finding supra-party, consensus-based decisions and solutions. And that is possible only through debates and cooperation with a constructive and experienced team,” reads his statement.

In a status shared earlier this week, the former minister called upon his colleagues from the Republican Party to actively join the campaign for the December 9 snap parliamentary elections “to fulfill the mission” of serving the people “as an accomplished and skilled political force”.